HPN Team Ratings Brisbane have dipped below GWS just slightly for overall rating after their respective results last week. However, the difference between the two is slight at best, and has gone back and forth throughout the year. This match sees an interesting battle of team styles – one team
Continue reading »Author: Sean
Go easy? Or go fast? The HPN Geelong v West Coast Semi Final Preview
HPN Team Ratings Geelong rate as the best team over the course of the year according to HPN Team Ratings, so going out in straight sets would probably be a bit of an underachievement if it were to eventuate. The Cats have a particular strength in their defence, which concedes
Continue reading »Who wins in a fight – Tigers or Lions? The HPN Brisbane v Richmond Qualifying Final preview
HPN Team Ratings On paper this looks like a fairly even contest. Richmond’s strength is in the midfield, while the Lions present as a remarkably balanced side across the park. Both sides have improved in the back half of the year, with Richmond lifting a few percent in all three
Continue reading »Battle for the West – The HPN GWS v Western Bulldogs Elimination Final preview
HPN Team Ratings The Bulldogs look somewhat similar to their 2016 premiership edition, being a dominant team in terms of midfield territory while less reliable at each end of the ground. Unlike their flag-winning team of 2016, it seems to be a porous defense rather than impotent forward line that
Continue reading »HPN Geelong v Collingwood Qualifying Final preview
HPN Team Ratings Geelong and Collingwood topped the HPN Team Ratings at the end of the Home and Away season, with both well balanced across the ground. Both finished inside the top six in two different components – Geelong’s attack and defence rated second and first respectively, while Collingwood finished
Continue reading »The former Giants wouldn’t make Finals, but recycled players underpin the league
A recent article from FiveThirtyEight explored an issue almost dead centre to the interests of HPN – would a team of players traded away from a side be good enough to make the playoffs? In their case, 538 explored whether the ex-Miami Marlins were good enough to play October baseball
Continue reading »Can the AFL’s recent improvers push into the next bracket?
We have two thirds of the the AFL regular season in the rear view mirror, and as the year has progressed, the fortunes and form of some clubs have waxed and waned. This week HPN will look at changes in HPN Team Ratings over the last few weeks to see
Continue reading »Wet weather footy – how often is there rain at your team’s games?
Australian Football is an outdoors game played in winter, and as such, weather plays a major role in how the game is played. Generally, adverse weather conditions like rain and wind are assumed to reduce scoring by making it more difficult to gather and use the ball effectively. This week,
Continue reading »How far off defending their premiership are the Eagles?
As HPN has stated in the past, and as is illustrated by the commonly given “score sources” statistic in television broadcasts of the AFL, there are three primary modes of score origins. Turnovers. Clearances (centre and stoppage). Kick-outs. Turnovers generally make up about two-thirds of all scores, and this is
Continue reading »After a long winter, Fremantle look competent again
During the 2015 season, one team ran hotter than any other. It wasn’t the two-time premiers (soon to become threepeaters) Hawthorn, nor eventual runners up West Coast. Sydney, with Lance Franklin, were the most recent non-Hawthorn premier, but were a little hot and cold. Coming off a competitive loss in
Continue reading »